Blackfoot Lodge Tales | Page 9

his bow
and arrows, and got ready to fight and defend the women. After they
had gone a little way, the enemy had gained so much that they were
shooting at the Blackfeet with their arrows, and the man was riding
back and forth behind the women, and whipping up the horses, now of
one, now of another, to make them go faster. The enemy kept getting
closer, and at last they were so near that they were beginning to thrust
at him with their lances, and he was dodging them and throwing
himself down, now on one side of his horse, and then on the other.
At length he found that he could no longer defend all the women, so he
made up his mind to leave those that had the slowest horses to the
mercy of the enemy, while he would go on with those that had the
faster ones. When he found that he must leave the women, he was
excited and rode on ahead; but as he passed, he heard some one call out
to him, "Don't leave me," and he looked to one side, and saw that he
was leaving his wife. When he heard his wife call out thus to him, he
said to her: "There is no life for me here. You are a fine-looking
woman. They will not kill you, but there is no life for me." She
answered: "No, take pity on me. Do not leave me. My horse is giving
out. Let us both get on one horse and then, if we are caught, we will die
together." When he heard this, his heart was touched and he said: "No,
wife, I will not leave you. Run up beside my horse and jump on behind
me." The enemy were now so near that they had killed or captured
some of the women, and they had come up close enough to the man so
that they got ready to hit at him with their war clubs. His horse was

now wounded in places with arrows, but it was a good, strong, fast
horse.
His wife rode up close to him, and jumped on his horse behind him.
When he started to run with her, the enemy had come up on either side
of him, and some were behind him, but they were afraid to shoot their
arrows for fear of hitting their own people, so they struck at the man
with their war clubs. But they did not want to kill the woman, and they
did not hurt him. They reached out with their hands to try to pull the
woman off the horse; but she had put her arms around her husband and
held on tight, and they could not get her off, but they tore her clothing
off her. As she held her husband, he could not use his arrows, and could
not fight to defend himself. His horse was now going very slowly, and
all the enemy had caught up to them, and were all around them.
The man said to his wife: "Never mind, let them take you: they will not
kill you. You are too handsome a woman for them to kill you." His
wife said, "No, it is no harm for us both to die together." When he saw
that his wife would not get off the horse and that he could not fight, he
said to her: "Here, look out! You are crowding me on to the neck of the
horse. Sit further back." He began to edge himself back, and at last,
when he got his wife pretty far back on the horse, he gave a great push
and shoved her off behind. When she fell off, his horse had more speed
and began to run away from the enemy, and he would shoot back his
arrows; and now, when they would ride up to strike him with their
hatchets, he would shoot them and kill them, and they began to be
afraid of him, and to edge away from him. His horse was very
long-winded; and now, as he was drawing away from the enemy, there
were only two who were yet able to keep up with him. The rest were
being left behind, and they stopped, and went back to where the others
had killed or captured the women; and now only two men were
pursuing.
After a little while, the Blackfoot jumped off his horse to fight on foot,
and the two enemies rode up on either side of him, but a long way off,
and jumped off their horses. When he saw the two on either side of him,
he took a sheaf of arrows in his hand and began to rush, first toward the
one on the right, and